Raven
Raven is a fictional character from Zoids: Chaotic Century and Zoids: Guardian Force. He is Van Flyheight's main rival. Overview Chaotic Century Raven first appeared in episode 12 of Chaotic Century, "The Black Organoid". In the episode, an Organoid and a kid had been reported destroying an entire battalion of sleeper Guysaks. Van Flyheight, Fiona and the Organoid, Zeke, are initially mistaken for the culprits, and are pursued by the Republican Army. Raven, however, rescued them. Van and Fiona followed Raven to a plateau, pressing him for information, which he refused to divulge. Irvine showed up, warning Van that Raven was the one who had been killing Zoids. Raven announced that he despised Zoids, and his Organoid, Shadow, as well as his Zoid, the Zaber Fang, step out from behind the plateau. Van then watched in horror as Raven destroyed an entire fleet of Godos which were sent after him. Enraged, Van challenged Raven with his Shield Liger, but lost quickly and easily to Raven's superior skill. Van and Raven would continue to have skirmishes in several following episodes. The next battle left Zeke in a weakened state. While Van was trying to help Zeke recover, Irvine challenged Raven to a battle with a new weapon but Raven, along Shadow, defeated him with ease as well. He then viewed Major Schubaltz's battle against Captain Herman's Gojulas. Seeing Herman collapsing the Gojulas, Raven denounced Herman's abilities and commented that if he were piloting the Gojulas, no one would have escaped. During Prozen's invasion, Raven and Van battled again; this time Van finally managed to draw with Raven until he had to leave due to Prozen's invasion. Raven, angry with Van 'running away', tracked down Fiona and Moonbay atop Mt. Osa and he battled Van once again; this time Van won. Raven's loss came about as a result of his Zaber Fang melting as he recklessly tried to force it through Van's E-shield, which he almost succeed in doing. Following this defeat, Raven deduced that he needed a more powerful Zoid. Raven would reappear later with his new and more powerful Zoid: the Geno Saurer (initially mistaken by the characters as a Death Saurer). Involved in a conspiracy by Prozen to abduct the crown Prince Rudolph, Raven found that Rudolph was with Van and the two had yet another rematch, which resulted in the destruction of Van's Shield Liger and Zeke's near death experience. Raven would continue to use his Geno Saurer in following episodes to carry out Prozen's bidding: killing mass amounts of Zoids and taking their Cores for use in the Death Saurer revival project. Raven's final appearance in Chaotic Century was when he fought Van's new Blade Liger. The two battled fiercely, which ended when Van shoved one of the Blade Liger's Laser Blades into the Geno Saurer's CPC emitter, destroying it. Raven escaped a fiery death thanks to the last minute action of his Organoid, Shadow. Guardian Force After the destruction of the Geno Saurer, Raven vanished for several years before reappearing in episode 8 of Guardian Force, "Raven". In the episode, Raven appears mentally unhinged, possibly caused by his loss to Van and the severity of the explosion. Appearing to have entered what seemed to be a near-catatonic or post traumatic state, Raven is sullen and unresponsive. He wanders about aimlessly, destroying military bases with the help of his Organoid. After breaking into a base and attacking it with a Dark Horn, Raven fought Van and Thomas, and upon seeing Van again, snapped back to his normal state. Raven later appeared at the end of episode 9, "The Emperor's Holiday", in a new Geno Saurer (this one with red under paneling instead of purple), and destroy Thomas' Dibison. He would then attack the Guardian Force with his Geno Saurer in the following episode, "Assault of the Mega Monster", where he defeated Van, Irvine and Moonbay despite a plan to increase the power of the Blade Liger's shield. Before he could finish the job, Shadow took the Geno Saurer to a remote location. Raven was at first furious about this, but reconsiders when Shadow forms an evolution cocoon around the Geno Saurer. Raven quickly realizes what is happening and begins to laugh at this new development. Raven would continue to watch the cocoon until episode 13, "A Monster Awakens". Raven was found and was taken prisoner by the Guardian Force and they try to destroy the Geno Saurer cocoon, but Raven knows that its evolution will not be stopped. When Raven was being transferred to Guygalos, he smashed the controls of the Zoid he was inside, crashing it and escaping. Raven's Geno Saurer then evolved into the more powerful Geno Breaker. The Geno Breaker, controlled by Shadow, easily withstood the onslaught by the Guardian Force's forces. It made its way to Raven and he tortured Van, irreparably damaged Irvine's Command Wolf, and destroyed a platoon of Sabre Tigers before retreating. Raven and the Geno Breaker remained a formidable opponent for the Guardian Force afterward - until Shadow's death at the hands of the Death Stinger in episode 23, "The Nightmare". The death of Shadow caused Raven to change, finally realizing how important Zoids were to humans. This created Raven's first emotional outburst in the series, showing how close he allowed Shadow to come. Guardian Force episode 15, "The Distant Stars", would finally shed light on Raven's backstory. His parents, who were scientists, were studying an Organoid (Ambient), which hatched and killed them. Raven was taken in by Dan Flyheight (Van's father) and would've been Van's brother had Dan survived (which is rather ironic, due to their sibling-like rivalry). When Prozen's forces attacked Van's home village, Raven watched Dan Flyheight die at the hands of Prozen, who adopted Raven after the battle. Prozen raised Raven with strict training and care, transforming him into an elite assassin. After Shadow's death, Raven returns to his old home and reflects on all that's happened, but after a short time Shadow mysteriously disappears. Raven then leaves to confront Hiltz and the Death Stinger for killing Shadow. Unfortunately without Shadow, Raven is not able to use his Zoid's full strength and is easily defeated by Hiltz. Rease and Speculer arrive just as Hiltz fires his Charged Particle Cannon, destroying them all, or so it seemed. Raven, Rease and her Organoid all survive although exactly how is unknown. At the time, Rease had become sick. Raven nurses her back to health in his old home, and afterwards the two of them set off for the Zoid Eve, thinking Shadow may be there. Once they reach the cave where the Dark Kaiser is, Raven confronts him and he was revealed to be none other than Prozen. They witnessed Shadow's rebirth but at that time, Shadow was once again wild and untamed. The Dark Kaiser attempted to have Shadow kill them all but Raven managed to get Shadow to remember him. Raven's final appearance would be during the final four episodes, where he assisted Van Flyheight in defeating the Death Saurer. He and the newly revived Shadow helped destroy the Death Saurer's shield so that Van could destroy its core. After the battle, he leaves with Rease and their Organoids. It can be assumed that he and Van have came to terms with one another. Manga While Raven's general character and appearance are quite similar in the manga, both his backstory and eventual fate differ progressively from the anime as the series enfolds. Note that the US translation of the manga features 'flipped' art so as to be read from left to right - Raven's face markings thus appear to have swapped sides, but as originally drawn match the anime. In his first appearance, Raven is cocky and brash much like his anime counterpart, fusing Shadow with his Zaber Fang to fight Van, though he fully knew that it would kill the Zoid afterward. After Van and Zeke defeated him using their Command Wolf's suicide attack (the 'Ragnarok Fang'), he retreated to reappear in the Geno Saurer arc. In seeking to take away the city's protective generator Zoid, Raven revealed some of his reasoning behind hating Zoids: he saw humankind as far too dependent on them, though he refused to expand on why even as Van defeated him with a newly-evolved Blade Liger and the help of the city Zoid. Seeing how important it was to the residents, Raven left with a simple promise: there would be no more needless destruction of Zoids from then on - he was only out to kill Van. Raven's final showing is at the end of the story. Newly-equipped with the Berserk Fury Shadow Edge (a black-colored variation with a number of angled blade wings in place of the Buster Claws), he sought to make good his vow to kill Van again. Van, meanwhile, had acquired a Liger Zero, and with the help of Raven's estranged twin brother, Donnie Chen, equipped it with a manga-unique (and also flight-capable) CAS known as 'Liger Zero Caesar the King'. The BFSE and Caesar clashed, and the battle became a violent standstill until Fiona intervened, letting Van and Zeke enter Raven's mind, where they finally learn the true source of his hatred. Back when he was young, he and his family kept a small Zoid named Noah (which appears to have been a Godos). Eager to follow them and help out with their work, he transferred navigation data over to the Zoid to bring him to their workplace. Something went wrong, the data got corrupted - and young Raven was forced to watch, helpless behind the controls, as the berserk Zoid killed his entire family. After a bit of a dreamworld fistfight, Van gets through to Raven, and the Shadow Edge shut down. The story finishes rather abruptly with the two rivals having made peace - what becomes of them afterward is unknown, though there is some expansion in the (Japanese-only) unofficial comics on creator Michiro Ueyama's site. Personality Raven is generally portrayed as being cold towards other people, aloof and anti-social. Cocky, arrogant and snide, he often taunted his opponents during battle, deriding their ability to pilot. Raven has a hatred of Zoids, and only sees them as either tools to be used or enemies to be destroyed, though by the end of the series, he learned that he couldn't live without his Organoid, Shadow, and realized how important Zoids were to humans. He has no respect for authority, obeying only Prozen. An elite assassin trained by Prozen himself, he is depicted as a very challenging opponent, and consistently poses a huge threat to Van and his friends throughout the series. However, he is also quick to anger, and when the odds are not in his favor, Raven drops his arrogant facade and is portrayed as being reckless, making decisions in his desperation that could endanger himself and his Zoid. This is especially evident when he attempted to rip through Van's E-shield, destroying his Zaber Fang in the process, and again when he forced the Geno Saurer to turn as he fired his Charged Particle Cannon, as well as firing it at point-blank range, damaging the leg and risking complete destruction respectively. During the rampage of Hiltz and the Death Saurer, Raven appeared to be a completely different person. He willingly teamed up with Van, even saving his life multiple times, and cheering him on as Van was launched from the gravity cannon. Raven fought justly and fairly, impressing and shocking Rease who noted that Raven had become something greater, someone who fought for a cause, not vengeance or hate. Raven developed something of a self-loathing and shame-ridden personality during his time taking care of Rease after their near-murder at the hands of Hiltz. He expressed that he had no right to be angry at Hiltz's rampage in the Death Stinger after all of the lives he himself had taken. He appeared to have come to terms with the cold and borderline psychopathic bloodletting of his youth, and developed the resolve to stop Hiltz as a way of atoning for his actions. He also became caring, freely taking care of Rease due to the illness she developed after Hiltz failed to kill her and Raven. He seemed to care quite a great deal for her, asking her about her well-being, likely having developed feelings for her. During the battle with the resurrected Death Saurer, Raven freely acknowledged that Van was the only pilot he ever respected, and the two of them even made a formidable team. It can be assumed that they buried their rivalry after the end of the war against Hiltz. Appearance In both the manga and anime version of Chaotic Century, Raven is mostly seen wearing a purple and grey outfit with some brown and gold details. His outfit includes grey shoulder pads that appear to be made of metal. He is often seen wearing a cape in the manga. In Guardian Force, he wears a larger version of this suit (due to him having grown between the two series) that has some small details changed and more angular shoulder pads. The most striking detail about Raven's appearance is his hair and his facial markings. His hair is mentioned as being black in both the anime and manga, but the anime has his hair looking grey rather than black (his hair did appear black in his flashback to when he was a child). His hair also appears more sleek in the manga, while it is spikier in the anime. His facial markings consist of a dot and the number 7, the most remarkable of all the characters in Chaotic Century. His facial markings appear purple in the manga, while they are red in the anime. He has lavender-purple eyes, ironically the same color as his outfit and two of the Zoids he used; the Geno Saurer and the Berserk Fury. In Guardian Force, Raven has large scars on his palms. The wounds were sustained from his loss to Van during their final duel in Chaotic Century. These scars served as a reminder for a long time of his hatred of Van. Every once and a while he would look at his scars and destroy something in anger with his zoid. Ability as a Zoid Pilot Raven is an extremely dangerous opponent in any type of Zoid. He is seen destroying large groups of Zoids on his own in the series, as well as outmatching Van Flyheight many times. Raven is so skilled, the Empire uses him as a strategic weapon, they deploy him behind enemy lines to wreak havoc of the Republican forces prior to the arrival of the Imperial Army. Raven at one point or another fights against all of the major protagonists and triumphs over each of them. He destroys Van's Shield Liger, Irvines's Command Wolf, and gravely damages Thomas' Dibison. Some of this is due to his choice of Zoid. Initially piloting a red Zaber Fang, he later uses a Geno Saurer and finally the Geno Breaker. The overwhelming power of these make him a threat to entire armies. However, his personal skill is never in question, he is shown to destroy a whole base using a Godos. Being able to use Shadow only further adds to Raven's combat prowess. Early in the series, Irvine fights Raven using Gojulas munitions, and is able to gain the upper hand. However, Raven is able to effortlessly defeat Irvine by merging with Shadow. Despite these feats, Raven is not all-powerful. In episode 59 Hiltz laments that Raven cannot draw out his Energy Shield, much less his Charged Particle Cannon due to not having Shadow at that point. This has strong parallels to episode 15 where Van is unable to use his Shield without Zeke. Although it is worth noting that the Geno Breaker is particularly unruly, unlike the more common Shield Liger. Indeed, later in the finale Raven does fire the Geno Breaker's Charged Particle Cannon without the use of Shadow. Relationships Like other characters in the series, Raven is shown to have his own unique relationships; Van: When Raven and Van first met (in both the manga and anime adaptations), the two quickly become enemies. As the series progressed, the two engaged in a series of bitter fights. However, near the end (in both versions) they seem to develop a mutual-respect towards the other, and eventually buried the hatchet. Shadow: Shadow obeys Raven's every command without question, and aids him by combining with different Zoids to enhance their potential. Though at first Raven seems heartless towards his Organoid, later on in the series, he realizes that he can't cope without Shadow. Prozen: Under Prozen's command, Raven is allowed to do anything he wishes in the Imperial army. Although the two do not share a close bond, Prozen acted as Raven's mentor. In the anime, Prozen gave Raven a chance to tame Shadow. Towards the end of Guardian Force, however, Raven discovers he was just a pawn in Prozen's plans, and turns against him. Karl Schubaltz: Schubaltz is shown to hate Raven's homicidal demeanor (both in the manga and anime). Raven and Karl never seems to cooperate well. Rease: Their first encounter made each of them rather hostile towards the other. However, near the end of the series, they seem to overcome their original feelings and develop a bond. It's hinted that he and Rease gained feelings for one another. Following Rease's failure to kill Van and his friends at the village of Nordence Raven appeared curious, almost concerned with her, indicating that he may have started losing his hostility towards her at that point, having recently come to terms with his own past traumas not long before. It was quite possible that like Fiona, Raven may have gained insight into Rease's mind during her brief psychic link with him, prompting his curiosity and perhaps even some trace of compassion in the renegade pilot. Hiltz: Even though Raven is not seen interacting with Hiltz even once, Hiltz initially looks down at Raven, and killed his Organoid Shadow during his fight with Van. Raven appeared to be unaware of Hiltz' being the one responsible for his parents' murder at their laboratory. Others: Raven often frowns down upon others because he considered their skills inferior to his. Merchandise *Unpainted minifigure and pilot figure of Raven were released with certain Zoid sets. These included the Geno Saurer and Geno Breaker. Zoids Legacy Database Entry :"After being defeated by Van, he loses his memory and wanders around. Since his memory came back, he's been active in battles with Hiltz' invitation." Trivia *The manga revealed Raven's actual name to be Joyce Chen. His actual name is not revealed in the anime. *Raven's Japanese Voice Actor also acts Jamie Hemeros from Zoids: New Century. Sort Category:Chaotic Century characters Category:Reformed characters